A gastronomy tour of Spain's Basque country

There's something wonderfully refreshing about the residents of Spain's Basque country. Situated north of Madrid, in alarming proximity to the French, the Basques are free-spirited and fiercely proud people. Theirs is the land of no-nonsense, an attitude that permeates almost every aspect of life here – especially food.

Gastronomy is a Basque's specialty. Here, almost everyone is a master cook. The food is fresh and seasonal. Cooking is a group activity; eating even more so. Dinner in the north starts late – around 10pm – and doesn't wind down until 2am. Once, a long time ago, somewhere in Basque country, a group of men gathered at a pub and soon began complaining that they were getting drunk too quickly because they had nothing to eat. One of the men asked the bartender what he had in the way of food: the bartender produced a handful of anchovies, olives and pickled peppers. One of the men in the group (a genius, whoever he was) surmised the ingredients would be simpler to eat with one hand, and thus took a toothpick and impaled one of each to produce the region's first pintxo: a bitesized snack, usually consumed before dinner with alcohol. Pintxos are kind of like tapas, but with one crucial difference: they're always spiked. ("Pincho" means "spike" in Spanish.)

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As the story goes, the men in the bar decided to name this concoction The Gilda, after a Rita Hayworth film. (Tall, green and spicy!) These days, the pintxos repertoire has significantly expanded. There are egg and salmon pintxos, jamon iberico pintxos, tuna pintxos, spanish omellete pintxos, salt cod croquettes pintxos, stuffed peppers pintxos, prawns, spider crab, octopus – the list goes on. Suffice to say they're all delicious.

Pintxos are traditionally served in bars, and are a respected social tradition. The idea is you gather your friends and hop from bar to bar, eating different types of pintxos before finally landing in a restaurant at a time when most people would be in bed. Pintxos keep the night going.

On a recent trip to San Sebastian, Basque country's favored hotspot for European socialites and royals alike, I was fortunate enough to enlist the services of San Sebastian Food, a cooking and wine school inside one of San Sebastian's most luxurious hotels, the Maria Cristina. The cooking schools offers classes for guests and professional alike, covering everything from the art of Iberian Ham Carving to the finesse of creating authentic Basque pintxos. They also run gastronomic tours, which involve a heavy amount of eating, drinking, more eating and more drinking, so prepare by not eating (or drinking) for at least 24 hours prior.

The tour is run by one of San Sebastian Food's lovely guides, and takes place in the Old Town, a tight network of winding cobblestone streets and breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains and sea. The best thing about doing a guided pintxos tour is that the guide knows all the local bartenders in town, so you don't have to wait in line like everyone else, nor do you have to eat the same pintxos. According to local custom, the best (and usually the most expensive) pintxos are off-menu: you have to know that to ask for them, and you also have to speak Basque.

The next part is a little trickier. The Basque region is also famous for its secret gastronomic societies – called txokos – that have been around since the 19th century. They are like clubhouses, where members gather to cook traditional Basque recipes and keep the region's culture alive. Some 1,000 txokos are spread throughout the Basque region – the older ones are male-only, but there are plenty of new ones that welcome female members as well. (Any self-respecting Basque will tell you without a hint of embarrassment that txokos were originally intended to give men sanctuary from their wives.) Each club house has a large, industrial kitchen and a dining hall, where members eat, talk, sing, share stories and more.

The tradition has a rich history – although the societies began as a way to celebrate the local culture, they really took off during Franco's time. They were one of the few places where Basque language and culture were allowed to thrive. Many of the region's famous restaurants (and chefs who have come from here) credit txokos with gaining a deeper understanding of gastronomy.

The only problem is: to get access to a txoko, you need to know someone who is a member. There are two ways to go about this in San Sebastian (where there are around 120 txokos): the first one entails hanging out at the seafood market in the mornings, in San Sebastian's main square, and asking random passers-by sniffing out the day's catch if they know anyone who can get you into a txoko.

The second way is slightly less complicated: in involves checking ahead to see if San Sebastian Food has scheduled a very rare txoko visit during your time in San Sebastian. (Being smart, I went with option B.)

And so, one gloriously sunny morning, we made our way down San Sebastian's winding streets and came to an unremarkable door above which hovered the gastronomic society's club flag. (Each txoko has one.) Usually, these depict some kind of sport, like fishing or horse riding. We were led down a flight of stairs to a basement room, where a four large wooden tables and benches sat beneath colourful flags and decorations. An spotless, stainless steel kitchen took up the entire back wall. The txoko rules are as follows: members cannot discuss politics or religion. You can smoke inside. You can use the kitchen to cook whenever you want, but you must wash up after yourself (or hire someone to do it). The bar runs on an honesty system: you pay for what you take.

Soon, we were joined downstairs by one of the four female members of this particular txoko (there are over 130 members in total) who led us through a gruelling yet wonderfully satisfying cooking class in the txoko kitchen. We started out with a couple of pintxos, of course (The Gilda among them) and then moved on to steamed white asparagus, seared tuna, grilled octopus and a custard pie for dessert. This entire meal was paired with wines by Beronia, a relatively young but well regarded Spanish winery founded in 1973. Beronia used to be a txoko, in fact – its founders used to gaze longingly at the rich fields around them and wonder why no one had bothered to start planting grapes. Suddenly, they realised if they planted grapes, they wouldn't have to spend so long sourcing wine for their clubhouse get-togethers.

These days, Beronia is part of the famous Gonzalez Byass wine group, and produces a classic range including white viura, rosado Tempranillo and red Tempranillo, plus the coveted Reserva and Gran Reserva. The on-site txoko still exists: it's on the third floor of the winery, which is near Haro, a short drive south from San Sebastian. The winery is open for visits, where you can begin in the fields and make your way down to the barrel room for a tasting. If you're lucky, you'll bump into Matias Calleja, Beronia's head winemaker, who is friendly, and very talkative.

And then, if you're really lucky, Matias will invite you to stay for lunch. And you will, because this is Basque country.

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